At your service: Essex Police on the water

At your service

Keeping our coastline, its users and their craft safe is all in a day’s work for the officers of the Essex Police Marine Unit

Based at Burnham-on-Crouch, the Essex Police Marine Unit (EPMU) is a team of one Sergeant and five Constables who police the entire coast of the county, from Mistley on the River Stour in the north to Crayford Ness, beyond the Dartford River

Crossing, in the south – that’s over 350 miles of coast, rivers, estuaries and creeks. Now more than 70 years old, the Unit also has additional responsibility for inland waters such as non-tidal rivers, reservoirs and canals including the River

Lee Navigation on the border with Hertfordshire, which brings its total policing area up to 562 miles. “We have two boats, a 42ft Launch named 16 TheCoastalGuide 2022

Alert IV and a 24ft RHIB [rigid-hulled inflatable boat] named Sentinel, which are moored at Burnham Yacht Harbour,” says Sgt Alex Southgate. “The RHIB has a top speed of 56 knots and so can reach most areas along the coast fairly quickly. As well as this we have two small Avon boats fitted with outboards that we can deploy in inland waters – these are mainly used for searching.”

While it takes a great interest in Essex’s major ports at Harwich, Tilbury and London Gateway on the Thames, as well as smaller sites like Brightlingsea, EPMU’s focus is marine community policing. Keeping people safe in and by the water

is paramount – whether you’re a boat-owner, paddleboarder, canoeist, kayaker, kite-surfer or jetskier – or use the water for leisure in any other way – the team is at your service.

“One of the main issues we tackle in the warmer months is reports of anti-social-behaviour on the water which – although not always – is often is caused by jet-skis and powerboats,” says Alex. “To focus on this, we run Operation Wave Breaker from April to September; it sees a significant increase in our visibility on the water as well as shore patrols in the areas which we know suffer from this.

“There were 84 reports of anti-social behaviour on the water in 2021 compared to 99 in 2020. During the summer months this is where the majority of our time is taken up. In the winter we spend a lot of time training, but still ensure we are visible in our community.

“We work closely with local harbour authorities to deal with this and last year Maldon District Council gifted our a team a jet-ski to use for our patrols.”

Providing reassurance to the marine community is key to EPMU’s work too, and the team takes up every opportunity it can to attend events such as town regattas and ‘street meets’ so officers can listen to the public’s concerns and » TheCoastalGuide 2022 17

identify ways to resolve them.

“We work with partner agencies such as the Coastguard, RNLI and Border Force as well as the Marine Management Organisation and Kent and Essex Fisheries too,” says Alex. “Not every coastal police force has a marine unit in the UK – including Suffolk Police – and so we sometimes get asked to provide support for them as well.”

EPMU is certainly a commanding presence on the water, and both Alert IV and Sentinel often draw a crowd when alongside at Burnham Yacht Harbour.

“People often see us out in the warm weather and imagine that it’s a glamorous job,” says Alex. “Don’t get me wrong – it is a fantastic role. But we are out in all conditions throughout the year and train to survive in gales and freezing cold seas. As well as being very physically demanding, it can also be mentally challenging… we can be called upon to conduct body recovery operations from the water and shoreline, for example.”

EPMU can be tasked by the force’s control room to incidents, whether on the water or land, as well as by Dover or Humber Coastguard. “The majority of our calls come via 999,” explains Alex. “Each of the five Police Constables has responsibility for a particular area and can be contacted for advice or information via email too.

“Always call 999 if there is a risk to life or you think an offence is being committed there and then,” urges Alex. “And I would always advise the public to report anything suspicious immediately via 101 or the do-it-online portal on the Essex Police website [www.essex.police.uk].

“If you think something doesn’t look right, then it probably isn’t.”

During Operation Wave Breaker last summer EPMU was involved in: • 29 deployments – these were specific patrols on top of the usual routine patrols • 202 hours on the water, also on top of the team’s usual routine • 135 stop checks on the water • 63 verbal warnings were issued relating to speeding on the water • 73 jet-skis were stopped • Four jet-ski riders were reported for Court attendance “People smuggling does occur along our coast, too, and we support Border Force who tackle the issue,” says Alex.

Reports of thefts of, and from, boats along the Essex coast are all part of the work for EPMU – the poster above identifies some simple steps owners can take to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim.